Family Ties 2: Forever
by HollyBlue2
Summary: A few months after passing SAS selection Alex and his unit are called upon to neutralise a nuclear threat made by SCORPIA, is there more than just a bomb scare to their usual evil plan? Alex has to keep his team together in times of hardship and hurt without breaking down himself. His wife, Freya and their children, Jessica and Lucas mean everything to him. He can't leave them...
1. Mr Granger

So finally it's here! Please enjoy!

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**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 1**

The two shots were aimed at the brass hinges and the door came visibly loose. Cobra stood back, raised his leg and swiftly kicked down the door. Powdered concrete came billowing out from inside. Jaguar produced a grenade from his webbing and pulled the pin. Keeping it tightly in his hand for a few seconds while he directed his aim he threw it in through the doorway and round the small corner. It was only seconds after he had let it go that the loud explosion of the grenade could be heard and yet another cloud of dust, smoke, powdered concrete and brick drifted out of the door. All four soldiers ran through the cloud and made their way inside, laser sights and torches attached to their weapons dancing round the long corridor and bouncing of walls and dust particles. Kicking down doors in the corridor, they found it virtually empty.

"Over here!" Lynx called. The other three soldiers made their way over to Lynx, they looked through the door and found that it led down a long flight of stone steps; some were wearing away from use and age. At the bottom was a grey metal door.

"They have to be down there!" Jaguar told them. "They're clearly not up here. Let's go. Cobra, the honours, please." He said indicating to the explosions expert of their four man team. Cobra made his way down the stairs carefully, minding out for tripwires and motion sensors. He found none and was down at the bottom of the stairs in no time. He placed the magnetic explosive near the lock on the door and set it to explode within fifteen seconds, that allowed him to get back up the stairs and then move back a couple of metres out of the way with the team.

The beeping of the charge could be heard momentarily before the explosion. The door swung open, barely hanging onto its hinges from the force of the blast. Some of the metal had been torn from the door leaving a rugged and sharp edge. They moved through the door carefully. Shooting the people who had come to see the commotion had been easy and swift, they searched the small room for anything on what they were looking for.

Nothing.

The next room was more promising, it was filled with computers whirring away and men wearing shirts and ties were sat at them typing away. All their screens were filled with code. Each man received a shot to the head and were killed instantly. What they were working on was illegal and a threat to national security. Jaguar was following orders and found the main computer and fired off several rounds into its motherboard. All the computers shut down automatically and a siren started going off. The men ignored it, knowing they had to complete their mission. In the next room was a tidy office, it was painted a neutral magnolia and had bookcases lining the left and right walls. On the back wall was a small slit window that led to the outside, it was not big enough for anyone but a small child to fit through which is why they found the boss of the corporation they were getting rid of sat at his desk. He looked as if he was trying to hide behind his large computer but it wasn't doing him any good. He was a large man with thick rimmed glasses; he wore a suit and had very little hair. Beads of sweat dripped down his face from his forehead and he was shaking slightly. Tiger pulled a weapon from the holster at the side of the right leg and shot the man in the shoulder with a tranquiliser. He would go back to HQ for interrogation. This was only the first part of the mission. It was from here that a nuclear bomb had been programmed so that it was untraceable. However, they had not been very good at hiding their own tracks as many of their finances had large sums of money that seems to have come from nowhere and were being spent on electronics.

The man slumped in the chair and Jaguar radioed the HQ to tell them that the mission was accomplished and that they needed someone to get Granger out from the basement of the building.

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Please Review...

Challenges:

Who do you reckon Granger is?

Who are Jaguar, Cobra, Lynx and Tiger?


	2. Double Negative

**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 2**

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Back at HQ, Mr Granger was led to a small interrogation cell, with a bag over his head and handcuffed to the chair. There was a metal table bolted to the floor in the centre of the room which he was sat in front of. The main effects of the tranquilliser had worn off but he was still groggy and the soldiers and left him to himself while his head cleared so that he was clear headed to speak to them.

Colonel David Richardson was the officer in charge of the on-going operation to find the nuclear bomb that was being hidden somewhere in London. Three hours after Mr Granger had arrived; Colonel Richardson strode into the cell with a thin manila file on Mr Granger.

He sat down opposite the large man and opened the folder. He pulled out several pictures of dead bodies of those that had been killed working for the small organisation. "Not only is this murder Mr Granger, this can be treachery, possession of an illegal weapon and I do not think that you will live through jail itself. At least not the jail we'll be sending you to. How do you fancy taking a vacation to Guantanamo Bay?" He asked. He kept his voice low and threatening. "Or you could simply tell us where the bomb is and when it's set to go off." The man before him stayed silent, he was sweating profusely. He looked down at the metal table, tracing the scratches with his eyes.

"I do not know." He said simply, keeping his eyes locked on the table. The man had a thick Croatian accent.

"How can you not know? It's your organisation; you had the people that work for you design and create it while you sat idly in your cosy little office. WHERE IS IT!?" He shouted.

There was silence for several moments before the man told him that he didn't know where it was.

"You do not understand! I do not know where it is!" The colonel glared at him. There was something that he wasn't telling him.

He snapped up the folder and left the interrogation room, nodding to the soldier who saluted him at the door, keeping watch. He went to the communications room, where there were several soldiers awaiting their next orders.

"Harrington-Rider!" He shouted into the small crowd of soldiers.

"Sir!" A man shouted back. The young man walked up to the Colonel and saluted him.

"Mr Granger, when you found him, did anything feel," He paused, thinking for the correct word. "Off?" He asked.

"No sir, I do not believe so." He said.

"He's in the interrogation room. There is something he is not telling us. Find out what it is."

"Yes sir."

"Oh, and use any means necessary." The colonel gave him a stern look and walked off to speak to one of the other officers.

Alex didn't really understand why he'd thought anything had been off. Surely this was the guy they had been after all this time. He entered the room. The loud entrance of the solider startled the man. Alex noticed he look a lot more tired than when he had been tranquilised by Tiger. There were large dark circles round his eyes and he genuinely looked terrified to see the soldier stood in front of him. He dropped the manila file of the table and it made a soft slapping sound, the man jumped.

"A little edgy are we?" Alex asked. The man shook his head. "Then why are you sweating so much, you clearly haven't slept. You're shaking, are you scared?" Once again the man shook his head.

"I don't know nothing!" He told his new interrogator.

"So, if you don't know nothing, you must know something. Double negative is a positive Mr Granger." Alex knew the Croatian man's English wasn't that good.

"No."

"Tell me where it is then… Mr Brajković

. That is your real name, yes? Dubravko Brajković?" The Croatian began to breathe harder, like he was out of breath.

"I do not know. I swear!" The man's eyebrows furrowed and he looked down at the table. Alex moved the chair that was opposite and then moved the table. Any means necessary…

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Challenges:

1) Does Dubravko Brajković know where the bomb is?

Please review!


	3. The Colonel's Office

**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 3**

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"Tell me!" Alex strode towards the terrified man, who was shaking more visibly, and the beads of sweat rolled down the sides of his face. He kicked the man's chair in the space between his legs and the man flinched. The chair made a scraping noise as it jolted backwards. The man was breathing hard and deep by now. Alex moved back over to the manila folder, pulling out two pictures. One was of a beautiful Croatian woman, who was his wife. The other was of their three children, two brown haired boys and a girl.

"Look," Alex started, his voice creepily calm. "We know where they are hiding, we know where they are at this very minute and if you do not tell us where they are…" He broke off.

"They never told me." He stuttered.

"Who are they?"

"The people I work for."

"Who do you work for? Help yourself here," He shoved the pictures close to his face.

"S…" The man got no further before he heard the man interrogating him swear violently and then he left the room.

Alex knocked on Colonel Richardson's grey office door where he had gone to retrieve some sanity from dealing with this operation. Nothing was making sense. It can't be that hard to find a nuclear bomb somewhere in London, made by the man who was sat in their interrogation room, can it?

"Yeah," the Colonel said informally. Alex opened the door. The Colonel looked up and saw that the normal calm, collective facade of the soldier had faded, it was almost filled with fear. "What's happened?"

"Brajković... He works for..." Alex pressed his palm into his forehead, trying to physically push the memories away.

_One second._

_Five seconds _

_Ten seconds _

_Fifteen seconds. _

_Alex began to kick out behind him; hoping they wound let his up for air. Another five seconds. It felt like forever. _

_Finally he was pulled up. He took several deep, gasping breaths. His lungs were aching. The man asked his again._

"Sorry, sir. I... can I go to the bathroom please?" Alex stood up, not waiting for consent from the officer. A horrible, nauseous feeling was rising from his stomach.

"Rider!" The Colonel shouted after him.

"SCORPIA!" Alex called to him, knowing that was what he wanted, he didn't turn his back, just told him and shut the door, making his way to the bathroom just a few metres away.

He shoved the door open and stumbled in to a cubicle and threw up. A few minutes later he came out and ran the cold tap. He cupped his hands and caught some of the water then splashed it over his face. There was a knock on the door, a strange thing since it was a shared bathroom.

"Yeah," Alex said, staring at the door, waiting for someone to come in. It was Harry Flemming, the man he'd passed selection with and they were both in the same team, along with David Falk, whom also passed on that day.

"Are you ok?" He asked him. Alex neither nodded nor shook his head, just shrugged his shoulders a little. "If you want to tell me anything, absolutely anything, I'm here, you can talk to me. I won't tell anyone what you've said or anything." The dark haired man told him.

"Mr Granger, his real name is Dubravko Brajković. The Colonel got me to interrogate him, which was fine, I didn't mind that. I got what I wanted know out of him without too much force and a bit of persuasion. Only, who he worked for… It brought up past memories… I shouldn't be telling you this." Alex said.

"No, you should. It's good to get it out of your system, normal people go and talk to a shrink Al. I know you're not _normal _but still."

"No, I didn't mean it like that, it happened a long time ago, even before I joined the army." Alex head and heart were conflicting, _ tell him… don't tell him. _Alex slumped down against one of the cubicle doors. The Colonel would sure be wondering where he'd got to after he pretty much ran out of his office. He finally gave in to his heart.

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Thanks for reading :) Please review!

Challenges

1) How much will Alex tell him?

2) Will Harry be able to keep his secret?


	4. Telling Harry

**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 4**

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Not one of the men he worked with in the Army had known and not one of his mates in the SAS knew either. He'd had forged medical reports to get in the army, more forged medical reports to get into the SAS, saying that he had been shot on a tour, but was 'fully capable of working in stressful and strenuous situations'.

It wasn't like Alex to get nervous, at all. Ever. But that was what Harry saw in front of his, slumped down against a toilet cubicle, a nervous man, fear in his eyes. Harry crouched down so he was beside his team mate. He looked at him, though said nothing, he had a gut feeling Alex wanted to talk and he would allow that. Talking was good. That's what his psychiatrist had always said those several times before.

"Urm..." Alex started. He didn't really want to tell him _everything_ that would take too long. "I don't think you'd believe me." He told Harry.

"I'll believe anything you tell me Al. There are mad things in this world and don't I know it." He chuckled briefly before motioning for Alex to carry on.

"Before all this; the SAS, even the army, I had a _job_. I worked for the government doing special jobs other people couldn't do because of their age."

"You were a spy?"

"Yeah." He really would believe anything. "I was fourteen."

"****me!" He exclaimed.

"They blackmailed me into doing the missions. A result of one got me shot, the scar on my chest. My real parents were killed when I was very young; I was looked after by my uncle and housekeeper. My uncle worked for them and was killed. It was then that they hired me. I was fifteen when they had my housekeeper killed. I had run off by this time, I'd been told Scorpia had killed her." Alex winced, the pain of the memories being dragged up from rock bottom.

_He could feel hot tears running down his cheeks as he picked up Jack's lifeless dead body._

"_Help!" He cried. "Somebody help me!" _

"Thanks." He said, suddenly, withdrawing from his thoughts. Harry smiled a little and stood up, tapping Alex on the shoulder.

"Any time, Al. Go tell the Colonel about the interrogation." Alex got up from the floor and dusted himself off. Both of them left the bathroom together and made their way over to the Colonel's office.

"Sir, apologies for earlier." He said.

"I hope you're not going to be a liability to this operation Rider." He told him sternly.

"Not at all, Sir." He told him confidently.

"So, Mr Granger."

"Dubravko Brajković, Sir." Alex interrupted and received a glare from the officer.

"What did he tell you?"

"He said that the people he worked for didn't tell him anything about where the nuclear bomb was going to be placed. I am surprised that Scorpia hadn't killed any of them already."

"And what do you know of this _Scorpia_?" he inquired.

"Sir, they are a very skilled terrorist organisation. Sabotage, Corruption, Intelligence and Assassination. I am unable to give you much information, Sir, but they are powerful. I suggest that we look at all the main political landmarks in London. Downing Street, Houses of Parliament etc." The officer gave him a nod and Alex looked back at Harry who was stood at ease behind him.

"You may go." He said. Both of them left the small office and started to walk back down the corridor the main communications room.

"How do you know so much about Scorpia then?" He asked.

"I've gone up against them, defeated them and been part of them." He stated bluntly. Harry stopped dead on his feet and started at Alex.

"Right…" He said. "Well I'm so listening to you in future." He joked. Alex chuckled and they entered the communications room. There was a general buzz of phones, computers and chatter when they entered. Obviously they had all received the order to search the political landmarks. Screens were showing the different landmarks and their CCTV footage. It was being fast-forward through the past few days to see if any suspicious came up. Anyone looking out of place, anyone looking too in place.

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Reviews are welcomed... of course ^_^


	5. A New Suspect

**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 5**

"Sir!" Shouted a female voice from one of the computers. The rewound the CCTV back as a Major walked towards her, followed by Alex and Harry.

"What have you got?" He asked; he bent down to look at the screen while Alex and Harry stood a little back.

She played the tape. A man in a dark, hooded coat and light trousers sauntered through a street, next to a row of old style shops.

"This man, he has walked through the route, stopped in the same spot every two hours." She clicked a button, another camera came into view. The same man could be seen, his face was partially hidden and his hands were thrust into his pockets. It was impossible to tell what the man looked like. The female soldier stopped the video and captured an image of him. Opening up an enhancement programme she did her best to enhance the grainy video, a slightly clearer image of the man came up.

The major cleared his throat and everyone fell silent.

"This is the man we are looking for. Dark, hooded coat and light trousers and has been seen walking through Sigman Street every two hours since Friday." Everyone immediately got back to work, knowing now what the man probably looked like. Alex turned to the Major.

"Sir, do you want my team to scout the area, see what sort of shops are in the area, any dodgy back rooms etc.?" he asked. The major did nothing but nod.

"Come on, grab Craig and David and get going. We'll scout until twenty-two hundred then go back tomorrow morning," Alex told Harry, the previous happening in the bathroom totally forgotten.

The street was busy as it normally was, the shops were run by families and nothing seemed to be off. They had separated themselves into twos; Alex and Harry, then Craig and David. That's how it was. It was eighteen hundred and the pair stopped at a burger van to grab something to eat while they had the chance. There were about three people in front of them when there was a crackle in both of their inconspicuous earpieces.

"Jaguar, two o'clock." Lynx said to him. Alex looked over to his right; he was there, lingering by an old cuckoo clock store. There was a significant bulge round his hip on his right hand side, he still wore the dark hoodie and Alex was beginning to wonder if this was a professional or a trap. A professional wouldn't have a routine, especially not with wearing the same clothes. Perhaps he was just a homeless man, but then why would he have a gun?

Alex motioned for Lynx to go round the other side of the burger van. Alex pressed his chest through his dark blue where his communications unit was. They were in plain clothes as a military uniform would have stood out.

They made their way, secretly, over to where the man was stood, Lynx was going to the man's right and Jaguar was going to the man's left. Tiger and Cobra would casually walk towards the man. This way the man would have nowhere to run. Jaguar got to him first.

"Good evening." He said, startling the man. He bolted to the right, running straight into Lynx.

"Oh, hello." He grabbed the man tight so that he couldn't move, holding his arms behind him, he pulled his hoodie up and took out the gun that was placed in the waistband of his trousers. Tiger pulled out a pair of plasticuffs and bound the man wrist together. People were staring and a small crowd of people had formed around them.

BANG!

All four soldiers ducked down, drawing their weapons and pointing them towards where they had heard the shot from. Tiger still had hold of the man and had placed an arm over him for some protection. Three men in dark clothing came out from an alley way. Had they been waiting for them?

"Sir!" Jaguar shouted into his radio. "The man was a decoy!"

"Get out of there quickly then!" The major told him. "Bring the man with you."

He radioed the rest of his team and they made their way over to the vehicle that they had come in. They seat belted the man into the centre seat and Jaguar got in the driver's seat with Cobra next to him. Tiger and Lynx sat on either side of their suspect.


	6. Interrogation

**Family Ties 2**

**Chapter 6**

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They seated the mysterious man on the same chair that Brajković had sat on just a few hours ago. They handcuffed his hands behind the chair so he couldn't be a danger to anyone.

The Major simply stared at him for a couple of minutes and he could see he was looking uncomfortable. His breath was coming in hitches and he was fiddling with his hands behind his back.

"Who do you work for?" The Major asked.

"No one." The man replied. He was young with dark close cropped hair and light skin. His hazel eyes showed fear.

"Do you work for Scorpia?" He asked. The man frowned, forehead creasing with confusion.

"Who are Scorpia?"

"You know exactly who they are, you work for them!" Major Duncan shouted. The frustration of the operation clear in his words. London would become a nuclear disaster zone if he wasn't careful or quick enough. He had some of the best men and women on his team, searching with all their training to find who has the bomb and where it was going to be placed and when. So far all he had was a name of an organisation; Scorpia, and only Rider knew about them.

That thought gave him an idea. He needed to know about this so-called Scorpia and there would be one way of finding out about him. Simply ask Rider.

Major Duncan left the interrogation room with a sigh, knowing he wasn't going to get anywhere with the detainee that was there presently. He found Rider sat on a chair surrounded by the three other members of the team. They sensed his presence and immediately stood up, standing to attention.

"Evening sir!" Alex called.

"Evening. Might I have a word with you?" He asked.

"Yes... sir." He replied. Alex noticeably relaxed as did his team mates who sat down back on their chairs.

"Not here." Samuel Duncan saw the soldier's brow furrow and tilted his head to indicate where he wanted him to go.

"Sir?"

"Just go soldier!" The Majors voice rose. Alex then left without a fuss towards the interrogation room. Alex pushed open the door and sat down behind the metal table. He hadn't noticed that his breath had become slightly ragged. He had a bad feeling about the conversation that was about to have with Major Duncan. He forced himself to take breaths in and then out, to calm him down. He could now see why Brajković was so nervous. The door slammed open though he did not jump. He simply stared at the Major as he entered the room.

"Tell me what you know of Scorpia." He told him.

"They are a very powerful criminal organisation, sir." Alex told him bluntly.

"Please. Enlighten me to how you know this information." His voice was beginning to sound devious, like he was trying to get Alex to tell him about his past with Scorpia.

"Sir?" He questioned. Alex didn't like where this was going.

"Tell me." He said with a sigh, placing a hand on the cool metal table.

"I," Alex hesitated for a moment and looked Major Duncan in the eye. "I cannot tell you. It is against the law for me to tell you that information." Alex carried on smoothly as if he'd said it a thousand times before.

"How?" He wondered. "How can important information such as this be against the law for you to tell me? It's for the sake of the country Rider."

"I know, but I can't tell you. I apologise." Alex made to get up but the Major walked around the table, placing a hand on Alex's shoulder, indicating him to stay sat down. Alex complied quietly and sat back down on the seat.

"Are you going to make me stay here until I tell you? I went through SAS training; it was you who taught me how to resist interrogation." Alex knew the consequences of his actions would probably get him binned from the SAS and returned to unit.

"I don't know. Who will let you tell me? Who will tell me what you know? Is there a file somewhere?" He speculated.

"Yes, sir, there is, but you will not be permitted to see it. It's classified information, sir."

"I get that!" He shouted. "But I need to know what you know, especially if it helps us find those nuclear bombs."

"Can I have a phone call?" Alex asked suddenly. Major Duncan seemed to stare right through him for a split second before nodding his head slowly and leaving the room.

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	7. Back to Them

**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 7**

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The phone was placed on the table and Alex typed in the number.

"Loud speaker." Major Duncan said simply. Alex sighed and pressed the designated button. The sound of rings could be heard and then a click when the phone was picked up.

"_Hello_?" The man answered.

"Hi Lewis, it's Alex." He said.

"Oh, I thought you were on operation. You can't have a phone on operation Alex, you know that." Lewis scolded. There was a child crying in the background, and then arguing. Alex heard a door shut and knew Lewis had receded to his office and shut the door.

"I am. I'm in a situation. I need to go back to them." He told him.

"No you fucking aren't!" He shouted.

"You're on speaker."

"Shit... I mean, oh. Who's there?" He wondered. Alex looked up at the major asking him permission to say he was there. The officer nodded but said nothing.

"Major Duncan."

"Evening sir." The officer still said nothing.

"I need to go back to them. Major Duncan probably needs the information from the Sierra files and Sierra Romeo." He said. He didn't mention the actual names of the missions, just used the phonetic alphabet to disguise the first letters.

"Please, Alex. Don't do this. You know what Liz will say." His voice pleaded.

"I have to; I don't have a choice, just like back then."

"You always have a choice Alex." The sentence was very cliché but he was right, he should e able to have a choice but if he didn't get the information to Major Duncan, London will soon be devastated by a nuclear bomb.

"Not this time." Alex said after a while and cut off the phone call. He looked up at Major Duncan. "Can I go now? I did what you wanted; the information will come soon enough, if they think you are deemed to be able to have it."

"I just don't understand why you can't tell me yourself. It doesn't make any sense whatsoever." Major Duncan sighed exasperatedly.

"I have my reasons and when you get the information. This conversation never existed." Alex got up and left the room, leaving a gaping mouthed Major in the room stood in the middle of the now empty room. He knocked on the door to the Colonels office and was invited in.

"Sir, do you, by any chance, have an official secrets act document?" The colonel gave him a strange confused look and began digging round in his desk and when that was unsuccessful he moved over to the metal bookcase that sat behind the desk along the back wall. It was filled with several folders and three high frequency radios in case the ones they were using the in communications room malfunctioned or something of the like. He pulled out a dark blue lever arch file and rifled through the pages. He eventually came across what he was looking for. The sheets of parchment coloured paper was in a brown folder, possibly to keep them safe, uncurled and out of view. He handed one to Alex.

"What do you need it for? You don't need to give one to either of the two prisoners we have here."

"Major Duncan needs it if he's going to question me like that again." He said disgruntledly.

"He questioned you?"

"Question is an understatement; it was nearly a full blown interrogation." He told the colonel coldly.

"If this is too close-" Alex cut him off quickly before he could make any assumptions about him.

"No it isn't; if it was I would have told you already." He left the room in a worse mood than he had gone in with. Harry was outside, looking for him and most probably worrying about him, but despite earlier he just didn't want to talk to any of his unit mates.

Harry just stared at him following him across the room with his hazel eyes and stood there dumbstruck. He was stumped for what to do, should he go after him, find out what is wrong or just leave him be to blow off some steam in the common room at the back of the old looking, abandoned building?

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Please review!


	8. Never Take Life Seriously

**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 8**

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Harry found Alex at the back of the building in the chilly evening air. He caught him lighting up a cigarette and quickly took it from his hands.

"Al, you don't smoke. It's bad for you anyway." Harry told him and snapped the cigarette in half and dropped it on the floor. Alex fired up the Zippo lighter and was gazing solemnly into the small orange flame as it danced slightly in the fair breeze.

"David smokes." Alex told him quietly, without losing focus of the flame.

"I know he does. He's been smoking for years now."

"He says it keeps him calm."

"Yeah. Perhaps it does, but you don't need to it to keep calm Al. You're a calm person anyway. What's bothering you?"

"This whole Scorpia thing. MI6 blamed them for the death of my guardian, how was I supposed to react."

"I told you that you need to go and see someone."

"I can't, they'll say I'm not fit for duty and I'll be discharged from here, won't even be RTU'd."

"I see what you mean." Harry leant against the wall next to Alex and crossed his arms.

"God, I sound like a kid, don't I?" Alex said and chuckled slightly.

"A little, yeah." The both laughed at that and the dark feeling that clouded Alex's mind cleared a little.

"Do you get nightmares?"

"Sometimes. I went out to Afghan when I was eighteen. Our section was clearing out a building. There was so much death, it seemed so surreal at the time it didn't seem to bother me. Until after. They're all kids out there, I swear. One of the guys behind me shot a boy holding a dead man's trigger. He hadn't seen it so when he was killed the bomb went off right behind us. The guy behind me who had shot the kid had died instantly and I was thrown by the blast and suffered some burns to my back." Harry told him.

"Can I trust you Harry?" Alex said, it was almost as if he'd totally ignored what Harry had just told him, but he hadn't. He knew Harry didn't want pity for what happened, that's what makes the nightmares worse.

"Of course you can."

"Can you keep me from my vengeance for Scorpia? They killed my guardian, my mind is telling me to take this chance to get revenge, but that won't help anyone." Alex asked him.

He snapped the lid of the Zippo shut and read what had been engraved on it.

_Jaguar_. It said on the lid.

_Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway._ He had got it for Christmas from the Unit last year. They all got one, personally engraved with their code names and something funny to cheer them up in bad times. Alex smiled suddenly and caught Harry's eye.

"What so funny? Have you gone mad Alex?" Harry laughed.

"Nah, just remembering Christmas. _Lynx, when I die bury me face down so the whole world can kiss my arse!_" Alex quoted, remembering what he'd had engraved on Harry's lighter.

"Yeah, alright, whatever."

"I will bury face down myself if it ever comes to the matter." Alex dodged out of the way quickly before he could receive a bash to the shoulder from his friend. Alex clouted his friend round the back of the head and then retreated indoors where he acted as if nothing happened save from the paranoid turn of his head to check that Harry wasn't going to sneak up behind him and get him back.

"Rider!" A shout belonging to Major Duncan echoed through the building.

"Looks like someone is in trouble. See you later, I'm hitting the pit." Harry told him, opening the door to where the stairs were and dashing up them. Alex jogged off to find Major Duncan to ask him what he wanted.

"Yes, sir." He said, standing in front of the tall, brown haired officer.

"I received a call from..."

"Yeah, not here," Alex pulled a folded piece of paper from the map pocket of his combat trousers and produced it to the officer. "Please, sir, you need to sign this, before we go any further."

"Fine, but be careful in future Rider, remember who you are talking to. Ok?"

"Sir." Alex moved off to Major Duncan temporary office that was next to the one that belonged to the colonel while they were on this operation.

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Okay, so I am currently writing chapter 13! I am not with holding chapters, just updating every Friday...

I've had an epiphany! I had an idea a while back for a fic, but I can incorporate it into this one... you will see it at the end of chapter 13... and then it can get (hopefully) really juicy :)

Please Review! If I get lots of reviews I might update early ^_^


	9. Mrs Jones

**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 9**

"I just received a call from the head of MI6," Major Duncan said bluntly. "Is this what you're involved in? It wasn't written down anywhere on your application."

"That's because I can't write it down or I wouldn't have been allowed to join the army or the SAS. Look, sir, you have to understand. Please."

"I think you have some explaining to do, Rider." Alex's mind began to race. Tell him! Tell him! His inner voice shouted.

"I was recruited by Scorpia six years ago!" The words tumbled out of his mouth like an avalanche cascading down the side of a mountain.

"What!?" The man before him look furious, his normally fair skin turned a distinct shade of pink as the anger welled up inside him. Alex had only ever seen Major Duncan like this once before.

"I was undercover! I had no choice!" Alex retaliated. "Sir." He added, voice back to its normal calm state. "Why do you think you got that call from MI6 earlier regarding the documents you so desperately needed."

"Colonel Richardson will want to hear of this. Immediately." Alex suddenly felt as if he was back in Brookland School, being told off. He remembered the situation clearly from that third day in year seven when he had seen to the bullies who were being mean to his now best friend, Tom.

"Look, Colonel Richardson does not need to know, sir." Alex told him, standing in front of the door. "I need some time, a couple of hours, to go to the MI6 HQ. I need to know what they know. It might help us find the location of the bombs."

"Fine, how far away is it, roughly?"

"About an hour from here." Alex told him.

"I'll give you five hours, Rider. Ok?"

"Thank you, sir." Alex dashed off to the room that he shared with his unit to change into civilian clothes. Harry was lying on the bed reading a book. Craig and David were playing some sort of card game.

"Hey, where you off to?" Craig asked.

"I've got a quick job to do for Major Duncan." He replied, shedding himself of the camouflage attire.

"Without us?" David asked.

"Yeah, I would let you come with me but I can't." Alex's eyes darted over to Harry for just a split second and he knew the dark-haired man understood. Alex slipped on dark blue t-shirt with an abstract yellow pattern printed on the front. He pulled on a pair of trainers and grabbed his car keys.

Alex drove in silence through traffic filled London thinking about the amount of people who could die as a result of not finding the nuclear bombs. It would truly be disastrous. Alex turned a sharp left in to the small road leading to the car park at the back of the Royal and General Bank. He entered the familiar setting of the bustling bank lobby and made his way to the reception desk.

"I have a meeting with Mrs. Jones." He told the receptionist, a different one to the one who had been there before. She pulled out a fingerprint scanner and directed him to place his index finger on the flashing red surface. The machine beeped positively and she pointed to the lift. He smiled at her in thanks and made his way to the lift. The lift took him up to the sixth floor and he walked out and knocked on the door labelled, Mrs. Jones.

"Come in." She called. Alex entered quietly and shut the door behind him.

"Afternoon Mrs. Jones." He said to her, causing her to look up.

"Alex, it's you." She said.

"Uh, yeah." He responded.

"Here," Mrs. Jones passed him three folders. 'Top Secret' had been stamped on them in red ink. On the page was also the name of the missions. Operation Scorpia was on one and the other read Operation Scorpia Rising. The third one was a file on Scorpia, listing the known board members and such like. He nodded to Mrs. Jones and then made to leave the drab office. It was more personal than how Mr. Blunt had had it. Mrs. Jones had a wooden framed picture sat on her desk next to the silver coloured pen pot. There was also a small painting of a seaside in a foreign country, though Alex could not work out where it was.


	10. Asking for Help

**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 10**

Harry was lying on his bunk wearing his combat trousers and a t-shirt. He'd taken off his belt for comfort while he read his book. He was slightly annoyed that he'd nearly finished it as he'd come on the operation thinking he wouldn't even get to start it. The mission didn't seem to be going anywhere so far. That was bad. Now he had his unit leader falling apart on him. It had been a horrible sight to see his fearless, composed unit leader and friend in pieces on the bathroom floor the day before. His other team mates, Cobra and Tiger were playing a game of cards on the bedside table they'd moved. They were playing quietly only speaking when needing to. They weren't the closest of friends though Harry did not know why; it didn't matter anyway because they all worked quickly and efficiently when the time came to it. Suddenly Alex had barged in and started to undress hastily into civilian clothes, telling them he had a job for Major Duncan. Harry thought it strange as it was very rare for them to do jobs on their own, especially without the unit's back up. They hadn't even been told that one of them _might_ be doing a job on their own. The conversation earlier struck him unexpectedly and he remembered about his past with Scorpia and MI6. Perhaps he was going to see them. Alex grabbed his car keys and then looked at Harry for a mere millisecond and instantly Harry's thoughts were confirmed. He left.

"Wonder where he's going?" Tiger said quietly. Harry joined in with the response of wonder.

It was over half an hour before Harry started speaking. "Have you noticed Alex acting odd recently?" He asked, he put his book down on the floor next to the bed, dog-earing the page as he did so.

"No." Craig replied.

"A little. I saw him run off the bathroom yesterday. He didn't look too good." David told him.

"Yeah. He was feeling a bit off, must've been the breakfast." Harry lied. "I need to ask you something." He said finally. Both men looked up from their card game, placing the cards face down on the table. Craig twisted round so that he was looking at Harry who was sat on the edge of the bed with his elbows resting on his knees. "I know he's supposed to be our unit leader and everything but we need to help him a little, he's suffering from the effects of this mission. He asked me to protect him from his urge for vengeance this morning, but I can't do that on my own,"

"What do you mean?" David cut in.

"I don't know, but can you do that?"

"Of course, why wouldn't we look out for each other, that _is_ what a team is for isn't it?" David smiled.

"Yeah." Harry absentmindedly scratched his forehead with the nail on his thumb before standing up and walking towards the window. He opened the window a crack and let the evening air cool him.

-AR-

Alex thanked Mrs. Jones for the files and made to leave the room.

"So, how is it, Alex?" She asked, kindly.

"How's what?" He questioned, even though he knew exactly what she meant. He tuned round to face her. She inclined her head slightly and raised her eyebrows, clearly not happy with his response. "It's fine." His classic response.

"Glad to know you're doing ok." She said and then resumed typing on her computer that was to the right of her desk. Alex found his chance to escape from the dreaded room. He shut the door quietly and headed for the lift.

He looked at his watch as he left the building. He still had another three hours and it would only take him an hour to get back to the base. Getting in his car, he sighed and turned the key in the ignition.

Alex noticed that the roads were a little quieter as he started making his way towards Chelsea.

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Sorry about the short chapter once again :( the next chapter is over 900 words an the one after is 1,300 :) They're getting longer :)

Please Review!


	11. Shaking Hands

Just to clarify for anyone who is slightly... discombobulated (awesome word right there!) The unit members are as follows: Jaguar - Alex; Lynx - Harry; Cobra - David; Tiger - Craig :) Hope this helps! Now, let's go forth and read on!

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**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 11**

Alex pulled up on the gravel that was in front of the Old Chelsea Church. He sat with the ignition off for a short while before plucking up the courage to step out in to the bitter night air. He shivered as he was only wearing jeans and a thin dark blue t-shirt. He quickly disregarded the cold and headed towards the cemetery. The gravestones were aligned in rows and were of all different shapes and sizes, some more elaborate than others and some simple. Each had its own individual message inscribed on the front. As Alex walked in between the rows he saw a large white statue of an angel in the centre of a group of smaller gravestones. The angel looked sad and was praying, looking up towards the firmament as if looking for help. He strode past it and finally reached a gravestone.

_Jack Starbright_

_1982 – 2008_

He found himself lost in thought for just a moment as he stared at it.

_He saw a gun. He cycled harder. A muffled sound was heard and Alex guessed it was the gun in the man's hand that had gone off. He hadn't got there in time. He threw himself off of his bike and didn't look back as it slid into the road. He could feel hot tears running down his cheeks as he picked up Jack's lifeless dead body._

A lone tear escaped from Alex's eye as he remembered the day. The day MI6 had assassinated Jack. He breathed in deeply and then let it out slowly. Bringing a shaking hand down his face he wiped away the tears. There were no words on her gravestone. No one had been there to decide what to put on them. Alex had run off as the paramedics tried to treat him for his shock, resulting in him being hit by a car containing a member of the SAS. That was four and a half years ago now, but the memories still swam around in his head.

"I miss you, Jack." He whispered, being alone in the darkness made his voce seem ten times louder than normal. He smiled and touched the edge of her gravestone before walking away.

-AR-

Alex arrived at the base just under an hour earlier than the time he had been given, showing his pass at the gate and quickly being allowed in. He placed the files on Major Duncan's desk as he was not in there and retreated upstairs to sleep. It had been a busy and stressful day and he was actually looking forward to sleeping for once. There was quiet chatter when he entered the room the four soldiers were sleeping and then silence when they saw him enter the room.

"Successful?" Craig asked.

"Yeah," Voice slightly muffled as he pulled off his t-shirt and walked to the ensuite type bathroom they shared. The scars were blatantly visible on his back. Think pale lines against his smooth tanned skin. The door shut and the three looked at each other.

"There's a difference?" Craig asked.

"Well there was earlier." He retorted.

"How are we supposed to keep him from his vengeance if we don't know what it is?" Craig asked in a harsh whisper just as Alex came out of the bathroom. Alex shot him a dark look before making his way to his bed.

"You told them?" He said, coldly, another dark look meeting Harry's eyes.

"Al, they had to know. I didn't tell them anything, just to look out for you. You're part of a _team_, not a lone wolf like we know you can be."

"You told them. I said not to." He stood up, he looked aggressive and Harry stood up too, meeting him. Harry was a little taller and broader than Alex, but Alex had the many years of training.

David stood suddenly, seeing what was imminent, and moved himself so that he was in between the two males. "Come on, don't start this. Harry's right, we had to know." That resulted in Alex slamming an open hand into David's chest, knocking him out the way. Alex lunged forward towards Harry senselessly, blinded by rage, and disappointment for his friend. Harry seemed to catch him and it wasn't long before the pair were on the floor. Craig and David were doing their best to pull the combating soldiers from each other's harsh grasps but with no avail. A few punches were exchanged between the two with no real damage being done at all.

"Alex!" Harry shouted, wrapping his arms around the other man's torso. "Alex, stop!" There were streams of tears racing down Alex's face. Harry managed to get himself so that he was on top of Alex pinning him to the blue carpeted floor. Alex was breathing heavily but he appeared to have stopped trying to fight his friend. "Alex," He said calmly. "Only I know what each and every one of those scars came from."

"Fuck off, Harry." Alex told him. He tried to wriggle out of Harry's grip but he was too heavy.

"Alex, you're not listening to me. They don't know. I just asked them to look out for you. That is all."

"You didn't tell them?" Alex had calmed down by now.

"No, Al. I wouldn't, you asked me not to, and so I won't. Ok?" Alex nodded and Harry removed himself from on top of Alex and stood up, holding a hand out to Alex. He took his and used the hand to help himself up from the floor. Harry pulled Alex into a manly hug, clapping his on the back before letting him go. "We'll never speak of this. This never happened."

"What didn't happen?" Alex joked.


	12. Kitting Up

**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 12**

Five thirty was the time one of the soldiers' alarms went off and all four rolled smoothly out of their surprisingly comfortable beds. Today was a new, fresh start. All of yesterday will have been forgotten and not mentioned again to anyone. Today's focus was solely on working as a team with the rest of the employees here in order to find the nuclear bomb. Hopefully today they would find it.

They all changed, shaved and washed before heading out the door in a group to the scoff hall. Breakfast would contain the usual: one bacon, one sausage, one egg, beans or tomatoes, fried bread or toast and fried mushrooms. Alex would definitely say that this was the best meal of the day. It didn't matter that it was greasy, it just mattered that it tasted good and would last him until lunchtime or longer. Alex piled the food onto his white plate and sat down with the rest of the soldiers across the room from the officers.

They had to be in the briefing room for seven meaning that they had to be in there at five to as they were soldiers and a good soldier is always five minutes early. They all knew that. It was currently quarter past six and they had finished eating, leaving time for them to make sure that all their kit was in order so when they go out later they have everything they need to do their job. All four dashed back upstairs to their room and grabbed their kit. They brought it back down stairs to a small room. There were cages on each side of the small room, inside were an array of weapons, ranging from their standard C8 Carbine to grenades of all types and other small explosives. Alex grabbed his Kevlar vest out of the locker and slipped it on over his head, he pulled the Velcro strap from round his back to the front and made sure it was considerably tight. From the shelf inside the grey lockers that spanned across the back wall, he took his leg holster and strapped it round this right thigh, doing up the clips and tightening it. He went over to the quartermaster who was sat behind a wooden desk at the front of the room behind the metal door and asked for the key to their weapons locker. The near grey haired man with small glasses rooted around in the drawer to his left and found the key to locker three, there were two on the small key ring and a tag to say the keys were designed for locker three.

Alex opened the locker and dished out a Sig Sauer P228 to each of his team mates and then one for himself which he inserted into his holster. Then he unchained the C8 Carbines and passed them over. They clipped them on to a small Karabiner on their Kevlar vest and let them hang down so that they could have their hands free. Next, passed to them by Alex was their Personal Role Radio. Alex placed the earpiece over his ear and attached the straps round the back and over the top of his head, securing it in place. He traced with wire so that it ran underneath his Kevlar vest and then attached the main radio to the strap on his shoulder, then placed the throat mic on his neck and clasped it at the back.

Alex looked to his team, they were ready, fit and equipped for duty. They just had to wait for their call now.

"Let's go." He said, nodding and each of them smiled a little and followed their unit leader.

-AR-

_Three Hours Later_

"Rider!" A shout came from the communications room. Alex shot up, glancing at his team silently telling them to stay alert and be ready to move out any moment, and hurried off to where the shouts had come from.

"We've found it. There is chatter that it's set to go off in four hours' time at 1400." Major Duncan told him as he entered the room.

"Where?" He asked. The young soldier brought up a map on his screen and then transferred it to a main screen. The red circle indicating the area the bomb was going to hit showed a seemingly innocent area of a housing estate, full of small houses. Alex squinted to make out the fuzzy road names.

Krook Street...

Friar Street...

Jensen Street... Alex stared mouth agape at the last road name. That was where he lived. Thirty five Jensen Street.

"Fuck!" He exclaimed a bit too loudly. "I live on Jensen Street." He told Major Duncan who was giving him a confused look. _How did they find me? _Alex pondered. _I haven't been part of MI6 for years._

"We best find that bomb then. We got significant readings from this mile area. Don't make this personal for yourself."

"Yes, sir." He left. Alex tried his best not to think about the consequence of not finding the bomb in time. He'd have nowhere to go back to – no one to go back to. Alex and his wife had been married a little over three months; it would be tragic if it ended like this, if he could have saved her.

When he got back to the room where his team were waiting they stood up and made themselves ready to move out, Alex would explain on the way.

"There is a mile radius to which the bomb could be held. We need to find it and disarm it as quickly and as efficiently as possible."

"Ok." They said one after the other in confirmation. The piled themselves into two army Land Rovers. The way to where they had to be contained no general chatter, just that of the mission that was in hand.

"Cobra and Tiger, you take the right side of the perimeter, Lynx and I will take the left. Look for a suitcase, a backpack anything that is unattended that shouldn't be. If you find it, contact me or if Lynx or I find it we will contact you. Tiger, are you relatively familiar of the setup of these types of weapons?"

"I'll find out when I see it. They're all different. I'm sure I'll be fine." He said, the answer was confident and Alex knew he was able to do it. He was right every bomb he diffused was different to the last, making it almost impossible to practice diffusing the same bombs that he would be diffusing later that week or day. The platoon had labelled him as one of the best bomb diffusers of the Regiment. Proud of that title, Craig made sure he was careful and knew what he was doing, analysing and evaluating before be cut or removed anything.

Jaguar pulled the Land Rover into a smaller road and watched out the rear view mirror as the other Land Rover carried on along its path. They jumped out, they left their C8 Carbines under a hatch on the floor of the Land Rover so that they were out of view and only carried their Sig Sauer P228s with them as they were in public. It would only cause suspicion and possibly panic if they were seen to be carrying larger weapons. These were the streets of London, firearms were uncommon here. That was the reason that the news of a possible nuclear bomb was kept secret and the job was given to the SAS. If the news had leaked out it would have caused widespread panic, possibly even early detonation of the hazardous device. Alex hadn't been able to tell his wife anything at all; he couldn't even tell Lewis who lived a ten miles out of the blast zone.


	13. Trained Attackers

**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 13**

There was a sudden crackle of the radio and Alex pressed the pressel on the top of the radio.

"Send, over." He said.

"Found it, behind a set of commercial dustbins on Friar Street." It was Craig who was speaking. He was the bomb tech.

"Cobra, start clearing out the nearby buildings; think of something to tell them; the factory on West Street, perhaps a small chemical explosion or something of the like.

"Tiger, Lynx and I are on our way. What can you see of it?" He asked.

"Not much, it's mostly hidden behind rubbish bags. I just need to remove them and create a secure area."

"Don't touch it without us there." Jaguar warned.

"I thought I was the expert here." Tiger said, lightening the mood.

"I know."

"I diffused seventeen IED's in Iraq and Afghanistan, and you think I can't do this in London?"

"I am not questioning your ability, Tiger, it's a nuclear bomb. Not an IED."

"No shit, Jaguar. I need to be able to get to it," Tiger looked at his digital watch. It read 1312. "We've got less than an hour." So, ignoring his team leader's advice to stay away until he got there, Tiger began to suit up from his kit in the jeep. He pulled out the necessary equipment from the boot of the car and looked around him, making sure there were no civilians in the near vicinity. There was no one about; Cobra had made sure there was a decent perimeter around where the nuclear device was.

He was about to edge closer to the ticking device when the second jeep containing Jaguar and Lynx screeched to a halt twenty metres away. Tiger heard rapid footsteps behind him and put a fisted hand up in the air over his shoulder, signalling for Jaguar and Lynx to stop and not come any closer. Tiger knew that vibrations could set off these types sensitive bombs. He put his hand down and began to make his way tentatively towards the bomb.

As Tiger gently lifted off the black bin bags full of commercial waste, he noticed that the bomb looked simple. An off square looking box made out of metal, there was a clasp on the top, the sort you would store music records in. There was a code on the outside that would allow someone access to the insides. Tiger sprayed it lightly with a fingerprint spray which when lit up with ultra violet light turned any oils or grease a bright blue colour under the light. He held up the light and saw that several of the buttons had been pressed, some more than once.

One, three, nine and zero.

The number one had been pressed more than once and it usually consisted of a six digit code, meaning that from the look of it, one was pressed three times and the other numbers just the once.

"Jaguar," Tiger called, beckoning him over. "Do these numbers have any connection to you; can you make a sequence out of it?" He wondered. Alex stared at the digits that Tiger had written down on the plain notepad in front of him.

"Try this; one, three, zero, one, nine, one." He told him after a couple of minutes searching the numbers in his head for a pattern and Tiger punched in the numbers, Jaguar hoped that the sequence was right so that they could live, but also that it'd be wrong, then he'd know they weren't directly targeting him. 13/01/91 was his birth date. The red LED light was replace by a glowing green one and the latch opened. The Geiger scale attached to the side of Tiger's suit beep a little more rapidly than it had before, although the box was empty. Tiger turned round to Jaguar and motioned for him to move back and Tiger did too.

"It's empty, no bomb whatsoever, just traces of radiation." Tiger informed him, removing the helmet from his suit. Jaguar's brow furrowed.

"What, how can-" Jaguar never got to finish his sentence before a spray of bullets rained down on them from several automatic weapons, the concrete path spat up chunks, hitting the soldiers' legs and body. They dived behind the jeeps and brought out their own weapons, searching for the shooters. They couldn't see anyone. The firing stopped all of a sudden and they were surrounded by silence, the echo of the shooting disappearing into the distance.

Each soldier stood up carefully, rifle tight in their shoulders. They looked around and saw no one. Jaguar made to relax when someone grabbed him from behind. He rammed his elbow backwards but it hit thin air. Whoever was behind he was trained. A hand covered his mouth, holding some sort of cloth, while the other wrapped itself strongly around his torso. He looked around himself in a fast becoming haze and saw his unit mates in the same situation. One of them was on the floor with two men dressed in civilian clothing hunched over him. It was the last thing he registered before he felt the hard ground meet his head. He could hear someone shouting, but it wasn't English, or a language he recognised. Jaguar forced himself to try and stay conscious, blinking heavily against the effects of the drug entering his system; he found he could barely move his body. He lifted his head no more than an inch off the ground; the movement must've caught one of their attacker's attention as a hand was once again covering his mouth with the rag soaked in the foul tasting drug. He strained to move his head out of the way, kicking his legs and throwing out his arms in protest, but the drug was causing his limbs to become less and less responsive. Eventually, he succumbed to the darkness.


	14. Separated

**AN: **Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far! :) I am sorry that this chapter is ridiculously late :/ I hope you enjoy the chapter. Lots more action in this one :)

* * *

**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 14**

* * *

When Alex woke, he found himself in a dark room tied to a chair. He tried to move but found that his forearms were duct taped to the arms of the chair. He was still wearing his uniform but had been stripped of his Kevlar vest and his weapons, and his watch. His ankles had also been taped to the chair legs and it was then he realised that he wasn't wearing his boots. There were three other chairs to the right of him where his unit mates sat, heads lolled forward in an unconscious state. He decided to test the strength of the tape; surely it couldn't be that strong.

Clearly it could as after several minutes of trying he had come no closer to escaping. There was a low groan as the soldier closest to him began to wake. He went through the same process as Alex had, checking out what he was missing, making an inventory of what he had and then proceeding to try to escape.

"Tiger, it's no use, they've wrapped it too tightly too many times." He whispered harshly. Slowly, the other two soldiers began to come round to consciousness and tested their bonds.

"Hello again, Alex," A dark Russian voice said, the man behind the voice could not be seen because of the dark room. "It's nice to see you, pity it couldn't be under better circumstances. I so desperately wanted to blow up you iccle family, such a sweet woman." He taunted.

Alex scowled at him and the man stepped into the small ounce of light in the room. The man was someone he recognised from a long time ago.

"I don't have a lot of time for you, but I suppose you already know that." He said coming closer to Alex and crouching down so that their eyes met. Alex could see the aging wrinkles round his dark blue eyes.

"Professor." He said, mocking his title, he looked him dead in the eye, something he could not have done before. He knew this man was dangerous. He knew this man knew how to fight.

"It's so nice that you remembered me." Professor Yermalov looked up over Alex head to someone behind him. "Release him." He ordered and the man stood behind him produced a knife and flicked it open. He began to cut away the tape that was binding his ankles to the chair. Before moving onto his wrists, the man gave him warning look. Alex returned the look and watched as his wrist were untied.

The second they were free Alex threw himself off the chair and got up quickly ignoring the rush of blood to his head making him feel dizzy. He shoved a palm forward but the tall man knew by instinct that the prisoner would try to escape and quickly blocked it, lashing a foot out and swiping Alex's feet from underneath him. He toppled to the floor. He was about to get up but he found a knife pointing dangerously close to his face. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let the man pick him up off the floor and shove him forward. He felt the tip of the blade digging into his back so walked forward in the direction of the door.

"Jaguar!" He heard one of his unit mates shout.

"I'll be fine…" He mumbled, finding himself too far away to answer. Another guard had joined them and was holding Alex's arm tightly while the other guard took the other. They pushed him forward towards another door at the end of the corridor. The passageway was bright; Alex could see the dirty walls and dusty floor. He looked up at the man who'd pulled the knife on him. He knew him, but he was older now, just like he was. It was Klaus. He trained with him when he had been with Scorpia. He had a scar above his right eye from a knife but it looked old. The other man he didn't recognise, but he looked fresh, small and skinny. Maybe he wouldn't be very good at fighting.

With no warning, Alex pushed all of his weight to his left, shoving the new Scorpia agent into the wall who let go of his arm. He elbowed the man in the temple knocking him out. He found himself free and ran.


	15. Morphine

**AN: **I apologise that this is once again late :( but I have restarted college this New Year and I've been quite busy with resits. I think that there will only be a few more chapters of this; perhaps 20 chapters in total. I have also altered the synopsis (again) as I have no experience with pregnancy so I don't think it would be wise to write about it. Therefore, both Alex's daughter and son have already been born. They are both very young.

As you have probably noticed, I have not yet included Freya, Jessica and Lucas and yes, I know that I should have done already but I seem to be struggling to incorporate them. I have a scene including them later on, but I try to include them in Alex's thoughts but I end up editing them out :/ as they don't sound right… Any suggestions for this problem will be greatly welcomed! I hope you enjoy this chapter, reviews are wonderfully appreciated! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far!

**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 15**

Alex hadn't got very far before he found himself being grabbed by several guards armed with high calibre weapons.

"I'm not that stupid, Alex." The professor laughed humourlessly. The guards pushed him to the floor and one of them kicked him unnecessarily in the stomach, winding him. Alex doubled up in pain, breathing hard to try to get his breath back. "That's enough!" The professor yelled at them and they grabbed their prisoner and hauled him up unceremoniously.

The professor ordered the guards to put Alex in one of the small cells, so they took him, four of the biggest guards, to the cell and threw him in. Alex hit the ground with a loud thud, clasping his hands around his head to protect it.

He sat himself up against the dirty back wall of the small cell, curling his knees up to his chest to keep the warmth in. The room was cold, Alex noticed as he scanned the room. It was grim and dark, the door was no means of escape as it had a wheel door locks on the outside. The ceiling was concrete as was the floor and the walls were made from breezeblocks. Right now, it didn't look good for escaping.

The other three soldiers were still bound to the chairs they had found themselves in when they awoke. The room was relatively big and lit by a fading light bulb hanging limply over the door behind them. There was a sound of the door being opened behind them and they all stayed still.

Tiger felt someone's breath on his neck; he tensed momentarily before relaxing and turning his head to face whoever was behind him. He was faced with the barrel of a Glock 17.

"Hold still," The voice was gruff and belonged to a tall, brawny man. The guard came round to his front and undid the bonds holding his to the chair. He dragged Tiger roughly out of the chair, forcing him onto his knees facing Lynx and Cobra. The gun was pressed against the back of his head. Tiger closed his eyes knowing these could be his last moments.

"Tell me everything, or I'll shoot him." The man said. The request was vague.

"About what?" Tiger chipped in.

"About Alex Rider!" He roared. His face reddened with anger and Tiger took his moment, he leapt up from the floor, slamming his body into his opponents. The guard pressed the trigger on the Glock involuntarily and there was a loud bang, there was no yell, so each assumed the bullet had gone astray. The guard and Tiger tackled each other on the floor for several minutes. Tiger found himself on top on the big-muscled guard and took his chance to grab his face and with all his strength, shove the guard's head into the ground. It hit with a sickly crack and blood began to pour out onto the grey concrete floor. Tiger manoeuvred himself off the guard whose limbs fell limply onto the ground. He stood and stared at the body for a few seconds, almost disgusted with himself. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off and the injuries from the fight were beginning to hit him. Tiger clutched his side suddenly, falling to his knees and keeling over.

"Tiger?" Cobra called to him but there was no answer. "The bullet must've hit him." He informed Lynx who was clearly worried for his friend. "Tiger! Come on, mate, stay with us for a minute and let us out." A strange sound came from the man in front of them and they saw him struggle to move towards the chairs. Slowly, Tiger got closer and closer to the soldiers. He leant himself up against Cobra's leg as he fumbled with the duct tape. Finally, the man managed to get it off and then took to trying to get the tape off his arm. That didn't seem to take as long and then Cobra was able to take the rest of it off b himself. Tiger collapsed back onto the floor from exhaustion and pain and lay still trying to concentrate on not thinking about the pain, which was an arduous task when you have a bullet lodged in your side. Cobra untied Lynx and then knelt down beside Tiger who was clutching his side with the ounces of strength he had left. Cobra, being the medic, pulled him onto his back, not missing the agonised expression on his unit member's face as he did. He applied his own pressure over the top of Tiger's weak pressure with one had while he patted down his pocket and found that the cylindrical shape item was still there. He pulled it out. The morphine injector contained twenty milligrams of morphine sulphate in a small amount of water.

"I'm gonna give you some morphine, tiger." He told him. Tiger grunted an unintelligible response that was ignored by Cobra as he removed the red safety plug from the end of the injector. He pressed the yellow end against his skin and pressed the black firing plunger at the other end. This would release the gas, driving the hypodermic needle through the yellow protective cap and about an inch into the muscle; the fluid would then be released.

Tiger made a pained sound before relaxing when the drug kicked in. Cobra checked his pupils, which were pin-point. Lynx was busy at the door, trying to get it open. He reached up to the light and directed it towards the lock. He found that it would be simple enough to pick if he had the tools. Lynx turned around to investigate the surroundings of the room. The light only gave little detail into the corners of the room, but he soon fund what he was looking for.


	16. Getting Out

**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 16**

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Their assault vests and equipment, except their weapons, had been stashed haphazardly in the corner. Knowing where they were, Lynx found his way over there and rummaged through the vest to find his own. It was at the bottom of the pile and he pulled it out. He searched the front pocket for the small set of tools.

"Is there any Celox in there? I could really use it about now." Cobra asked, desperately, noting the excessive bleeding coming from the gunshot wound in Tiger's side. Lynx picked up another vest and searched it. Nothing in that one. Lynx picked up the other vest; it was Cobra's. He detached the small pouch from the side and tossed it over to him. Unzipping it, he pulled out a plastic syringe and took it out of the sterile packet. "Give us a hand." He said to Lynx who was busy at the door. They could escape later; they needed to sort Tiger out first. Lynx knelt down beside the still body of his teammate and listened to what Cobra wanted him to do.

The syringe had what looked like sand in it and a large opening at the end. Celox powder is designed to quickly and efficiently stem bleeding from fatal wounds. Cobra pushed the sand-like compound into the bullet wound. Once it was all in, he took the white bandage from Lynx's hands and pressed it onto the wound, taping it down.

"Bandage." He said to Lynx, simply. He rifled through the small medical pack and grabbed the white bandage. Handing it to him, Cobra then began to wrap it around Tiger's body.

* * *

They decided that, about half an hour later, it was safe enough to move Tiger. Lynx pulled on his Kevlar vest and did up the Velcro on the sides and at the shoulders. Cobra followed suit, reattaching his medical kit. For Tiger, they opened up the vest as much as possible.

"Where we goin'?" He slurred as the other two began to move around him, jostling him slightly.

"We're getting out of here." Lynx told him, he was knelt behind his head and Tiger looked at him briefly before closing his eyes again. Cobra handed Lynx the Kevlar vest and he placed it open on the ground.

"On three, we'll lift his torso onto the vest;" Lynx nodded. "One, two, three." They pulled his dead-weight body onto the vest and strapped him into it. Cobra lifted Tiger up over his shoulders and adjusted the position until he was comfortable. Who knew how far they would have to carry him…

Lynx took charge of the door, placing his tools into the lock and jiggling them about. There was an audible click and the door unlocked. A guard at the door turned and looked at them when the door swung open. He was about to shout out for back up but Lynx placed his hand tightly around his mouth and manoeuvring himself so that he was behind the large man he blocked off his airways, he choked silently and lost consciousness. Lynx held his up and placed a hand around his neck, lowering the body to the ground he kept the pressure on his neck on for a few more seconds. He let go and checked the man's pulse. Dead.

They moved off down the hallway. They had no idea where they had taken Jaguar, they looked in every room they could but there was no sign of him.

"We can't be here any longer," Cobra told Lynx who was looking through a window into a large room. "It's not safe."

"We're not leaving Alex!" Lynx said through gritted teeth. There was no way he was leaving his friend and team leader.

"We don't have a choice, he's here somewhere; we can get out and come back with back up." Cobra grabbed Lynx's Kevlar vest at the shoulder and tugged it. "Come on."

"Hold on," He pulled away from Cobra who had begun to walk away. "Our weapons are in there." Lynx opened the door, it hadn't been locked which was useful. He entered the room with caution looking out for any guards. Picking up the weapons one by one, he made sure they still had ammunition in them and put his P228 Sig Sauer in his thigh holster. They had left their C8 Carbines in the Land Rover. He handed Cobra's Sig to him and then he stashed the other two in his vest.

"Leave Jaguar's here, if he gets out from wherever he is, he'll need it."

"Good point."

"Let's go then."

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I apologise for the amount of time this took me! You can put your pitchforks back in the shed :p

The next chapter should be up a lot quicker :)


	17. Deliquus, Praesumitur Mortuus

**Family Ties 2: Forever**

**Chapter 17: ****Deliquus****, ****Praesumitur****Mortuus**

Alex lay still in his small cell. Waiting to be taken and tortured. He knew it would happen at some time. There was a loud screech at the door and it opened, letting in a little light into the pitch black cell. Alex curled himself up in a ball for protection, even though he knew that it wouldn't matter. Three men squeezed into the small space and picked him up. Alex struggled as much as possible but to no avail. He was taken to another room and strapped down to a table, a bag placed over his head.

"What do you want from me?" Alex yelled, voice muffled by the bag.

"One of your friends is already dead. Join us Alex. We could use someone of your expertise."

"Fucking arseholes!" He yelled back. A drop of water fell onto the bag and seeped through its cotton fabric. Alex tensed and took a breath, realising what was about to come. More water came crashing down onto his face, lasting longer than he could hold his breath for. Alex began to flail as much as he could, but he could feel two other people holding him down, despite the bonds holding him to the table. Finally, the water stopped, but Alex was already unconscious.

A couple of minutes later, Alex woke, the soaked black bag still over his head, the water felt cold against his face. A tap on his shoulder made him move his head to the side. He sensed the man who was torturing him bend down so that his mouth was next to Alex ear.

"I'm telling you now Alex, you've got two options." He started, there was a rapid knock on the door and a younger sounding man burst in.

"They've gone, boss!" He informed him, out of breath.

"What do you mean?" The boss's eyes narrowed. Behind the bag, Alex felt a smirk creep across his face. Yes, they had left him here, but they had got out and knowing his team they would send for back up and he would be out of here soon. He just had to endure a couple more days of this torture and he could go home to his wife and kids. Just thinking of them, he felt a tear escape from his eye and drop off the side of his face into the already wet fabric. The bag was abruptly removed from his head and he felt it slam back down on the wooden table, he winced momentarily.

"What were you expecting?" Alex said hoarsely, words coated in sarcasm, only to then find himself coughing and spluttering. The man punched him in the face and Alex felt his nose explode with blood. He kept his mouth shut to stop himself from swallowing too much. That would most certainly bruise.

The straps were released and his hands were tied behind his back with plastic cable ties that cut into his already horribly bruised skin. Another bag was placed over his head. As Alex was moved from that room to a different one, he felt disorientated and it was beginning to get hard to breathe, the mix of adrenaline kicking around his system and the overload of water in his stomach and lungs wasn't helping.

Alex found himself being towed from room to room, day in and day out. He told himself he would not lose hope because losing hope meant losing himself. Help would come, he knew it. Days and night blurred together in a foggy mess, he had no idea how long he had been here.

* * *

_HQ_

Cobra and Lynx stood quietly in their room above the main communications room. They could hear the bustling and shouting going on downstairs but both ignored it. Lynx stood by the window staring at his mobile phone, waiting for any news of either Craig who was currently in surgery or any news on Alex. It had been three days. Pangs of guilt smashed through him, he did his best to ignore them but they were slowly eating away at is conscience. They had left Alex there, in the hands of the people who kidnapped them and were about to torture information out of them.

He took a deep breath and turned to face Cobra who had sat on the edge of Alex's bed.

"I'm going to go and speak to Major Duncan." He told him and made to leave the room. Just as he opened the door David called out to him.

"He won't let us go back there, Harry. Craig's in the hospital and God knows where Alex is."

"There's no harm in trying." Harry retorted sharply, angered by David's lack of concern.

He jogged down the narrow staircase and pushed open the door at the bottom and made his way along the short corridor that led to the communications room.

Knocking on the door, Harry found his gut twisting and churning with anticipation and nerves. A shout from inside and he opened the door.

"Good evening," Major Duncan greeted. "What do you need?" He opened a file in front of him, flicking quickly through the pages.

"Sir, I think we should go back…" He said. He watched as he pulled out Alex's basic file sheet. At the bottom was a blank, unsigned, undated line.

"I'm sorry, Lance Corporal, it's been seventy-two hours. We have to report Sergeant Rider MIA." Major Duncan took out a large stamp from the drawer to his left and pressed it into a red ink pad. MIA was stamped at an angle over the basic report that would have normally been hidden in safety. It displayed the soldiers' credentials such as name, date of birth and their aliases and their identification image. Harry watched as the officer stood and placed the sheet back in the large file and then into the safe behind him, sealing it with a fingerprint scan.

"If he contacts us, in any way, we will go back, I can assure you and believe me, I hope he does, he's one of our finest sergeants, but for now 'Qui audet adipiscitur'."

* * *

_Three weeks later_

Alex forced himself to sit up against the back wall of his cell as the sun shone through the smallest crack in the corner of the dense brick wall. He coughed, stomach hurting and making him feel nauseous. One eye was swollen shut after one of the men punched him in the face repeatedly. His lip was split and encrusted with blood, as was his nose. Alex knew that his shoulder was dislocated from the fuzzy feeling in his hand. The days were become longer, more drawn out. He found he slept more, he was tortured more too, but he gave up nothing. Not a single soul. His eyes drooped shut, losing consciousness, losing the battle, but just before his body gave up a sharp, tingling pain ran down his left arm as if he had knocked his funny bone. He ignored it, but it kept on shocking him, every minute or so. Then he remembered and the smallest of smiles crept onto the corner of Alex's bloody lips for a split second.

* * *

_Eight Hours Later_

There was a bash on his door, startling him, they had come once again. Another bash. This was new; it was as if they couldn't gain entrance to his cell. A stomach churning, nervous feeling came over Alex that wasn't nausea or losing consciousness, or the thought of being dragged away. This was his rescue this was his ticket out of here, he thought as he remembered what had happened just a few hours ago.

There were two loud bangs; sparks flew from the small gap at the side of the door where the hinges were. The sound echoed deafeningly through the small space Alex was in; he moved his hands up to cover his ears, shoulders sparking with searing pain.

It wasn't long before he felt people grabbing him and pulling him up from the floor. He made no effort to see who it was or to get away from them, let alone tell them they were hurting him. He let them carry his out of the building, keeping his eyes tight shut and concentrating on his breathing that was becoming more ragged by the minute.

Cool air hit his Alex's skin where his clothes had been ripped and torn apart. He couldn't find the strength to shiver and soon felt the cold seep through to his bones. He longed for unconsciousness but part of him was keeping him awake. The loud thrum of a helicopter could be heard and Alex closed his eyes, trying to force his body to lose consciousness, hoping he would wake up in a hospital, his wife by his side and that would be the end of it.

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That was an extra long chapter (comparatively) for the long wait... There is an image to go with this that can be found on my DeviantART account... locatable from my profile :)

Please review!


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